Gunmen Attack Nicaragua’s Top Presidential Candidate Gunfire Misses Aleman; One Bodyguard Killed, Three Hurt

Gunmen shot at leading presidential candidate Arnoldo Aleman on the campaign trail on Thursday, missing him but killing a bodyguard and wounding three others.

The attack happened in the remote mountain community of Wiwili, 200 miles north of the capital, the interior minister, Sergio Narvaez, said.

A Nicaraguan journalist covering the campaign said the 15 gunmen reportedly wore uniforms bearing the red-and-black insignia of the former Sandinista National Liberation Front army. Radio reports said authorities suspected former Sandinista soldiers.

In more than 15 years of revolution and counterrevolution in Nicaragua, weapons, uniforms and insignia have been used interchangeably for years. National Police Chief Cmdr. Fernando Caldera said the attackers had not been identified.

The Sandinistas denounced the attack.

But they have long opposed Aleman as a candidate in the Oct. 20 elections, saying a Aleman victory would be a throw-back to the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza they toppled in 1979.

The attack was the first report of pre-election violence in a wide campaign field that includes hardline rightists and Marxist-leaning Sandinistas.

In addition to worries of pre-election attacks, Nicaraguan authorities also are concerned about the possibility of violence in connection with Pope John Paul II’s visit to Managua on Feb. 7.

Alarmed by a spate of bombings of Roman Catholic churches and organizations since last April, Nicaragua has mobilized thousands of security forces for the pontiff’s nine-hour visit.

Authorities did not suggest any links between Thursday’s violence and the papal visit - John Paul’s first to Central America since Sandinista supporters heckled him during a 1993 tour.